There is an interesting thread on SlashDot about moving from Microsoft to Linux Migrating Your Office from Windows to Linux? I would love to see our school go all Linux, but the transition must be so painful. It could be that a school with few funds, and little technology could easily make the change. We are at a place where we can start really adopting technology, but it almost seems like a point of no return into M$ territory. Can we make a shift now, before people get too used to Windows and MS Office? What about all our Access databases for student management? We are using GIMP for windows as the site wide image editing tool, and are planning to move to non-M$ browsers (Opera) and email clients (Eudora?) for security reasons. Can we start moving to Open Office too? Part of my plan is to integrate all of our different databases into one MySQL or some other open source SQL database. When that happens, maybe we can shed the MS Access shackles that hold us to Windows. Problem: just shelled out $$$ for 70 licenses for Windows 2000 Pro and 5 Servers.
Archive for May 18th, 2002
Every once in a while I am tempted to feel less than educated because of my choice to postpone indefinitely my college education. In my mind I have many good reasons why I should not feel this way, yet it comes back. The field I work in values experience, and certain skills that I happen to have, but it is hard for me to know how a college education would positively impact my abilities. Would a degree in Botany help me to troubleshoot strange network traffic? Would a doctorate in anything assist in setting up Active Directory, or designing an interactive alumni web site? I know of many benefits that would compliment my current skills, but am still not convinced that a college education is the only way to obtain those experiences or knowledge. Sometimes the void is more social. Most of my peers and some of my siblings have spent more years studying than I, and it creates a gap between us of topics and subject matter. I just do not have the knowledge to converse at the same level. Sure, I know technical jargon, and the workings of several technologies that puts me into a geek-elite, but that is not education. Technical knowledge is knowledge of the use of tools. There are few social messages to learn from HTML, and writing batch files does not help me to have a deeper understanding of the human nature. I try to educate myself, but how does ignorance seek out knowledge? I can read books, and think. What more? Is there some key activity that I am missing? How do you learn philosophy via experience? What activities teach theology? Is there enough value in knowing the classics, that I should read them all? When I listen to music, am I missing something that would allow me to multiply my appreciation of it? Can I ever fully enjoy art without a knowledge of the history, progression, and movements?
Have I mistakenly placed education on a pedestle? What am I missing? Am I missing anything?
Retorts